Odense preseason friendly 1977

Odense preseason friendly 1977
Halifax Jimmys who helped push the car over the border!

 

Odense pre-season tour 1977
In Hamburg at the fair on the way to the game
In the ground with a helicopter on the pitch

 

Helicopter?

 

Heidi, can you remember how you felt at the time as the team transitioned from the European Cup Final, slowly slipping in stature in the late 70's. Is it something you realised at the time was happening? What were the fans thinking at the time?

 

Yes but I've no idea why

 

We always knew it wasn't going to be an easy time letting go of some of our players. Jimmy Armfield should never have been sacked because that's when things started to go downhill for me and it was always going to take time to rebuild, it was never going to happen overnight. We ended up 9th which was too low a position for the board. Look where that got us!!! Looking back, Billy could have carried on longer and he was always going to be a hard act to follow. Terry Yorath took a lot of stick but he was a good payer and we would stick up for him. It was gradual I think and I always wondered if I would still support Leeds once the team had gone but it was just a natural thing to stay. Getting Adamson in was a disaster and unfortunately Clarke couldn't stop the rot. That said we had to play after the season had ended and Stoke and WBA deliberately drew to send us down and not Stoke. Eddie Gray was bringing the youngsters through and then Billy nearly got us up only for heartbreak in the play off final. Wilko then got us up and we ended up being the Last Champions of the old first division.

 

Was reminiscing at the mention of Jimmy Armfield. He signed a bloke from our High School, Ronnie Nisbet, & pronounced that he was going to be the best ever striker in english football. I kid you not. However, he was an exceptional talent - absolutely no doubt about that. So Jimmy left, then Ronnie did, but no-one's heard from him since! Shame. Handled right, he could have changed the fortunes of Leeds.

 

Do you think Ronnie may have been arrested and executed by lethal injection

 

No, I think it's most likely he hit the usual blight a young Scot faces on his own in a strange country - chasing burds & drinking heavily. I have no idea what happened, but his son to this day will not have his name mentioned.

 

That's sad